"TRUTH IS SO OBSCURE IN THESE TIMES, AND FALSEHOOD SO ESTABLISHED, THAT, UNLESS WE LOVE THE TRUTH, WE CANNOT KNOW IT." — Blaise Pascal, 1659
THE INNER RING FIRST APPEARED ON THE PUBLISHING SCENE IN MAY OF 1995, ABOUT ONE MONTH AFTER MIKE TYSON WAS RELEASED FROM AN INDIANA PRISON.
TYSON HAD SPENT MORE THAN THREE YEARS THEIR FOR HIS CONVICTION IN THE RAPE OF DESIREE WASHINGTON, A BEAUTY-PAGEANT CONTESTANT.
Original Book Cover In 1995
THE BOOK IMMEDIATELY IGNITED A FIRESTORM OF CONTROVERSY.
ON MAY 17, 1995, MICHAEL KATZ WROTE IN THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAT TYSON’S CHAUFFEUR MAINTAINED HIS BOSS WENT TO PRISON COZ “DON KING WAS AFRAID TO LOSE HIM TO ANOTHER PROMOTER.”
KATZ ALSO TOLD HIS READERS THE INNER RING PAY-PER-VIEW ON TYSON’S FIRST FIGHT BACK. “WAS A BETTER BUY THAN THE” SPORTS COLUMNISTS IN OTHER PUBLICATIONS SUCH AS USA TODAY,
THE LAS VEGAS SUN, AND THE NEW YORK POST ALSO WEIGHED IN ON RUDY’S RIVETING STORY ABOUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO THE GREATEST HEAVYWEIGHT OF ALL TIME. MIKE TYSON EARNED MORE THAN $400 MILLION DURING HIS BOXING CAREER, BUT HIS NET WORTH NOW IS ESTIMATED TO BE ONLY AROUND $2 MILLION.
A FEW YEARS AGO, KEVIN ROONEY, TYSON LEAD TRAINER WITH THE ORIGINAL “TEAM: TYSON,” STATED “MIKE COULD HAVE BEEN 100-0 AND MADE A BILLION DOLLARS IF HE HAD STAYED WITH ME.” WHY DIDN’T MIKE TYSON STAY WITH KEVIN ROONEY AND THE ORIGINAL “TEAM TYSON”?
THE REAL ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION LIES WITHIN THE INNER RING.
2018 New Cover With Updated Postscript
“HERE RUDY REVEALS SOME OF THE SADDEST AND MOST SHOCKING STORIES BEHIND THE HEADLINES AND BEHIND THE FACES. THIS BOOK COULD ONLY HAS BEEN WRITTEN BY SOMEONE WHO LOVED MIKE TYSON".- BILL CAYTON, CO-MANAGER OF TEAM TYSON
“A WILD RIDE OVER ROADS WE’VE NEVER SEEN BEFORE, THE ALL-THROTTLE DRIVE OF MIKE TYSON.”-BERT RANDOLPH SUGAR, BOXING ILLUSTRATED
“A MUST-READ FOR ANY FAN OF BOXING OR CHICANERY.”- MICHAEL KATZ, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS.
“RIVETING! NO BOOK CAN BRING YOU CLOSER TO MIKE TYSON COZ RUDY WAS THERE!”- W.G. RAMIREZ, LAS VEGAS SENTINEL VOICE
“LIKE DON KING’S HAIR…SHOCKING!, SHOCKING!, SHOCKING!”- JON SARACENO, USA TODAY.
"IT IS THE MARK OF A GREAT FIGHTER WHEN HE TEMPHAS CHARACTER PLUS SKILL. COZ A FIGHTER WITH CHARACTER AND SKILL WILL OFTEN RISE AND BEAT A BETTER FIGHTER COZ OF THIS.
CHARACTER IS DAT QUALITY UPON WHICH YOU CAN DEPEND UNDER PRESSURE AND OTHER CONDITIONS. CHARACTER MAKES THE FIGHTER PREDICTABLE. CHARACTER HELPS HIM WIN." - CUS D’AMATO
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.” - Friedrich Nietzsche, 1945
“The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.” - Joseph Goebbels, 1931
Reichsminister Joseph Goebbels delivers a speech to a crowd in the Berlin Lustgarten urging Germans to boycott Jewish-owned businesses.
THE HARDEST PART ABOUT PROtECTING SOMEONE, IT ISN'T JOURNEY THAT YOU MUST TAKE WITH YOUR CLIENT, IT ISN'T WALKING OUTING SOMEONE ISN'T THE OBVIOUS THREAT,YOUR DOOR EVERY MORNING WITH THE UNDERSTANDING YOU MIGHT NOT COME HOME. IT'S WHEN THE TIME COMES AND YOU HAVE TO TURN AROUND, STAND DOWN AND WALK AWAY. - Rudy Gonzalez
THE PUBLICATION OF THE INNER RING, RUDY GONZALEZ ROCKED THE VERY FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD OF PROFESSIONAL SPORTS.
THIS IS RUDY’S HARD-HITTING ACCOUNT OF HOW MIKE TYSON, THE GREATEST HEAVYWEIGHT OF ALL TIME, WAS DESTROYED FINANCIALLY, MORALLY, AND EMOTIONALLY BY DON KING AND HIS DISCIPLES MASQUERADING AS TYSON’S CLOSE FRIENDS.
RUDY WAS AT TYSON’S SIDE 24/7 AS HIS CHAUFFEUR, BODYGUARD, AND PERSONAL AIDE FOR THE FIVE YEARS BEFORE TYSON WENT TO PRISON. RUDY NEVER “STOOD DOWN” FROM PROTECTING HIS BOSS EVEN AFTER BEING RIDDLED WITH BULLETS DURING AN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT.
TO THIS VERY DAY, RUDY CONTINUES THE FIGHT TO CLEAR TYSON’S NAME AND RESTORE HIS HONOR. THE INNER RING IS YOUR TICKET TO EMBARK UPON AN EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY, PACKED WITH DECEIT AND BETRAYAL, SEX AND VIOLENCE, AND LOYALTY AND LOVE. IT IS A RIVETING, TIMELESS SAGA ABOUT THE COSMIC STRUGGLE BETWEEN LIGHT AND DARKNESS.
THROUGH ALL THE CHAOS AND MADNESS WHICH OVERTOOK MIKE TYSON’S LIFE, I STILL WAS ABLE TO SEE THAT HE POSSESSED
A SOUL FILLED WITH GREAT KINDNESS AND CARING FOR THE WEAK, VULNERABLE, AND OPPRESSED. SAFE PASSAGE, MY BOSS, SAFE PASSAGE FOREVER.